Quote :

"Doubtful Luke will play next season. Just have him coach next year. He didn't seem too happy with Rivera last night either. "

What would be the point of that when they are obviously going to cancel the whole NFL season due to concussion fears?

12/11/2016 7:22:54 PM

Meh, if we're going to go for an OT in the 1st round(clearly our biggest need), we don't really need a high pick as the top OT in this year's draft seems to be in the 10-15 round area anyway.

I mean first 2 picks will likely be DEs, so not like we were going to get one of the top pass-rushers in the draft picking at #7 or #8 anyway.

Play the young guys(esp. our DBs), put Luke on IR, protect Cam as much as you can, and try to finish the season as healthy as possible. We'll still have a top 12 pick.

12/12/2016 9:02:18 AM

Funny story, the 5-8 Carolina Panthers now lead the the NFL in sacks with 39. It's been said before, but this season's failure lies squarely on the shoulders of the offense. It's really been an utter mess since Week 3 and has never really improved. The problems start up front with the o-line, but there's plenty of blame to go around. Cam has been horribly inaccurate, receivers drop the ball at the most inopportune times, and Shula's offense has become awfully predictable (then again, you don't have much flexibility when you to max protect every pass). I think another big problem is lacking a true possession receiver, someone who runs good routes and can get open at the sticks on 3rd down. KB is a terrible route runner, Funchess has unreliable hands, and Ginn is a soft ass bitch. Olsen is really the closest we have but it's hard for him to play that role when he needs to block on obvious passing downs. We probably missed a guy like Cotchery way more than we thought.

12/12/2016 11:53:11 AM

Also old ass Stewart.

12/12/2016 12:42:59 PM

#20 offense, #14 defense, #28 special teams.
#17 passing, #21 rushing
#18 against the pass, #6 against the run.
#23 o-line, #5 d-line
5th toughest schedule thus far with tough games ahead.
I'd say it's a little of everything. Mostly a tough schedule, injuries, blown leads vs tampa/kc/den/minn...
Horrible secondary for the first half of the year
Several years of drafting late

12/12/2016 12:48:19 PM

Also missed FGs in close games.....sounds eerily familiar. Although Gano has picked it up after his early season struggles.

12/12/2016 12:58:56 PM

I think Oher and Kalil's injuries are the biggest issues. Our offense relied on great run blocking and good pass protection so Cam could launch mid-range rockets down the field and the hit the occasional homerun. We're starting Mike Remmers and Trae Turner (a guard) at our tackles, and a guy that's a third stringer at center.

Pass rush is a big problem too. Addison gives our pass rush a big boost when he's healthy, but we've got no decent edge rushers other than him. Secondary was garbage earlier in the year, but they've come around nicely.

Tough schedule too. We're just not winning the close ones like we did last year.

12/13/2016 9:36:33 AM

I haven't watched us play much this year . Is Darryl williams playing or is he another bust?

I think we are really gonna regret those kalil and oher extensions. I think both may be washed up. We basically have to draft amother tackle next year because we can't afford one in FA.

We can finally cut stewart (thanks again hurney you fucking faggot!) or at least have him renegotiate . Same thing with Thomas davis but I don't think we can get a reliable replacement for the $4m we'd save cutting him

The real question is do we give Kawann short the ~$85-$100 million. Tough call. I'd argue he's not worth it. Too risky to put that much into a non-qb not named JJ Watt

12/13/2016 10:42:00 AM

Williams is hurt but he's yet to impress me anytime he's been in the lineup. I think we'd be better off converting him to guard, he doesn't seem to have the lateral agility to handle pass rushers on either side of the line. As for Short, I don't think we can afford to lose another commodity on defense.

12/13/2016 10:54:56 AM

Not sure we can afford to keep him either. We have Butler as a replacement

12/13/2016 12:19:12 PM

Quote :

"Pass rush is a big problem too. "

How so? When:

Quote :

"Funny story, the 5-8 Carolina Panthers now lead the the NFL in sacks with 39."

12/13/2016 12:34:54 PM

You absolutely have to resign Short. Otherwise you might as well trade Cam and start over.

12/13/2016 12:40:57 PM

^ seems a little over the top. Not sure why we'd want to trade Cam over one shaky season the guy was MVP last year for gods sake. Besides big $ deals are difficult to trade due to huge salary cap acceleration hits.
We don't "have" to do anything except tender Short the franchise tag. It'd be dumb not to do that while we negotiate. If we can't get anything worked out long term we can rescind the franchise tag and get a compensation draft pick like we did for Josh Norman. Locking Short up to a $100m deal is extremely risky. It provides decent value at best and horrific value at worst.
Given that we have an adequate replacement on the roster, this is far from a slam dunk decision. Look how badly the Broncos regret the deal they gave Demaryius Thomas in this exact scenario.

[Edited on December 14, 2016 at 8:44 AM. Reason : A]

12/14/2016 8:43:09 AM

I didn't realize Thomas was an elite young defensive tackle.

12/14/2016 10:04:26 AM

Yeah I'm not sure Short is actually worth his price-tag production-wise but the market is going to be insane.

We'll franchise him and negotiate, but I don't see us paying him as much as he would get on the open market. There is a reason we drafted a DT in the 1st round last year and then signed another veteran DT to a multi-year deal. You can't handcuff your team with awful contracts(remember the cap-hell we were in just a few years ago??).

Last year I thought Short was blooming and was going to be a top 5 DT for several years, but this year I didn't see the same player. Now if we were talking about Aaron Donald, yeah I'd pay him the full asking price, I just see investing in Short to be a bit risky given our other needs.

12/14/2016 10:13:29 AM

Yeah I know about awful contacts, Stewart is still on the damn team.

12/14/2016 12:53:58 PM

No, Thomas was an Elite young WR entering restricted free agency as his rookie deal ended. Situations are virtually identical.

12/14/2016 1:29:06 PM

isn't the cap expected to rise next year?

12/14/2016 1:32:58 PM

Has Butler done anything this season that would lead you to believe he could just step in for Short? There has been at least one game where Butler wasn't even active, and he wasn't injured. In theory, he's depth in case you can't keep both Star and KK, but he might never play to their level.

And I bet we restructure Stewart. Yeah, his current contract is more than we can pay, but good running backs aren't simply a dime a dozen like people might think. Look how bad our running game struggled this season when Stewart was out. Whitaker can only do so much and CAP looks like a bust. Granted, a banged up offensive line isn't helping either.

12/14/2016 3:00:37 PM

Well Sportrac calculates Short's value(based on age, statistics, other players at his position) to be at $87 million/5 years.

It's not about those other DTs being as good as Short, it's about does the price difference account for the production difference. Is Short worth that much money or is the drop-off not worth the $14+ million each season when we could invest in a $5 million/season DT that is serviceable and spend $8-9 million on another key position(OT? DE?)

12/14/2016 3:18:24 PM

^ that is one (correct) way to look at it.

Another is do you want $87m tied up in one player in an injury prone sport vs spread amongst various contributors

12/15/2016 10:11:23 AM

looking forward to seeing what happens with Norman

12/19/2016 8:01:14 PM

Get cam out of there. No point of getting the franchise hurt behind this shitty line.

And Rivera didn't know he was hurt lol. He needs to go to then

12/19/2016 8:48:11 PM

Come on assholes, blow this like you always do

12/19/2016 9:23:00 PM

Gotta love the nfl...cam gets hit in the head while sliding...gets called for taunting

12/19/2016 9:29:17 PM

That play in a nutshell is how Cameron Netwon is treated in the NFL. What a joke.

12/19/2016 9:31:03 PM

That actually looked like the correct call to me. The contact was incidental if there even was contact and Cam clearly threw the ball at a dude after the play.

12/19/2016 9:53:01 PM

18 year Head Official Gerry Austin said it should have been a flag...

[Edited on December 19, 2016 at 10:13 PM. Reason : But then again Walt Coleman has been going a long ass time]

12/19/2016 10:11:44 PM

wow that may be the first time I've ever seen bitchy homer fans actually get a call changed, btw it looked like it was actually holding, dumbass refs

12/19/2016 11:12:05 PM

What the hell is with this officiating

12/19/2016 11:12:08 PM

12/19/2016 11:37:19 PM

So many commentators say Cam doesn't get flags for roughness and helmet to helmet because he's a runner.

Meanwhile when Cousins is a runner he draws a 15 yard flag for being pushed out of bounds while he's still in bounds.

12/19/2016 11:38:15 PM

Look I get protecting the qbs but that is literally a no win situation for the d there because cousins didn't trot out of bounds.

12/19/2016 11:40:58 PM

This has been one of the worst officiated games I've seen this year. The no-call on the helmet to helmet on a sliding QB, ON 3rd and 9 for NO GAIN, that results in a taunting call on the QB (only Cam rates that flag.. BS)
The really bad uncatchable ball late flag pick-up.
The Cousins late hit on an IN PLAY QB (I guess it should be noted that they equally called Jackson out in a very similar position and then got it right on replay... can't replay at penalty... got it)

12/19/2016 11:41:48 PM

I'm emphatic on ruining the Deadskins playoff chances (while still 0.000000001% keeping Panthers playoff hopes alive) so this game was cool.

12/20/2016 12:25:47 AM

You can always count on the Panthers playing well in December even in shitty seasons and costing themselves a high draft pick.

Might work out as there isn't a top 10 OT projected this year.

Won't matter, ATL is going to smoke us next week and end the .0000000000001% chance we have for making the playoffs.

12/20/2016 10:37:42 AM

Not sure the Falcons are smoking the Panthers, esp if Julio Jones isn't 100%. The Panthers secondary is 10x better now than it was last time they played, and the offense has found a groove.

I'm not saying I want them to win. I just wouldn't be surprised if they do.

12/20/2016 4:15:09 PM

Cam has a ridiculous win% in December last time I checked

yup: http://www.espn.com/blog/carolina-panthers/post/_/id/11302/cam-newton-among-nfls-best-in-december-since-2011

12/20/2016 5:14:25 PM

^^I think our secondary is much improved, so no way Julio goes for 200+ again.

But ATL's offense is rolling right now, and with Luke out I just don't see us slowing them down.

12/21/2016 8:30:40 AM

If the LA Rams want Rivera, we should package a super deal with Cam for a few 1st round draft picks.

Cam is not a leader. He's the worst type of athlete... He's arguably the most gifted QB ever in the NFL, but he's lazy and moody. Get him out of here.

12/24/2016 8:20:43 PM

12/24/2016 8:37:41 PM

Troll bait

12/24/2016 8:42:13 PM

I agree. Let's move him for Goff and a 3rd rounder and start the rebuild.

He's not a "winner". All that talent and only an MVP, Heisman, NC AA title, Super Bowl appearance, Rookie of the Year, 3 Pro Bowls, and 3 division titles to show for after a few seasons and one year in college.

He's not durable either he's missed a handful of games

12/24/2016 9:52:34 PM

Those pro bowls and division titles are because we're in the second or third worst division in the NFL. Hell we made the playoffs by winning the division with a losing record one year.

And for all those accolades, he's got more losing seasons than winning seasons as a Panther.

He's not that good. His attitude is shit. And he can't play without already being on top of the world, look at his dismal fuckin performance tonight.

Hype > reality

12/24/2016 9:58:31 PM

I fucking wish I was wrong. Last year I thought he grew up and was ready to move up to that top tier of QBs.

But something's not there. He's kinda like Peppers... freak talent, but no motor.

I can see why they got rid of Smitty. He'd eat Cam alive.

[Edited on December 24, 2016 at 10:28 PM. Reason : a]

12/24/2016 10:27:38 PM

Oh okay. You're right. He's run of the Mill. We won the division at 12-4 and 15-1. Records that would always win the division. Cam made us competitive as a rookie for gods sake.

He hasn't singlehandedly led an offense that's been nearly void of talent at the skill positions with weak offensive lines his entire career.

His ability to lead our offense despite us not spending any money on that side of the ball (appropriately anyway , thanks hurney for spending $30m on a center and two aging RBs) is what enabled us to spend our $ and draft capital on the defensive side of the ball.

Let me make a through list of things im concerned about.

My list: Not Cam.

12/24/2016 10:39:57 PM

Basically that exact same team isn't even making the playoffs this year, even though the offense should've been even better than it was last year.

12/24/2016 10:45:21 PM

Alright let's start looking at guys we could make a move for.

Brock Osweiler is locked into a long deal but we could maybe pull off a trade. Fitzpatrick will be available. Bryce Petty? Mark Sanchez? Just ride with Derek Anderson?

I'm all for trying to revitalize RG3. Maybe bring in Case Keenan or Drew Stanton to compete.
Mike Glennon? Pay big bucks for a proven star like Rivers or Cutler?

I'm all in on Tavares Jackson to mentor Colin kaepernick if we can't trade 2 future first rounders and a pick swap to get Chad Kelly.

[Edited on December 24, 2016 at 11:01 PM. Reason : A]

12/24/2016 10:59:34 PM

Tebow needs another shot. He would probably leave the Fireflies for a starting QB slot in Charlotte.

12/25/2016 7:39:21 AM

Quote :

"Basically that exact same team isn't even making the playoffs this year, even though the offense should've been even better than it was last year."

Last year the offensive line played above their talent level (except for 2 notable games). This year they have been injured and/or garbage.

12/25/2016 10:17:25 AM